Online Resources

Online Resources

All My Picks
The Trauma & Mental Health Report is a weekly online mental-health magazine that aims to share research-based knowledge in simple words on the treatment, prevention, and implications of trauma and mental illness. https://trauma.blog.yorku.ca
The Centre for Studies on Human Stress is a website dedicated to empowering individuals with scientifically grounded information on the effects of stress on the brain and body with the objective of improve peoples health status. https://www.humanstress.ca/
McMan’s Depression and Bipolar Blog. An award winning journalist who decided to write about his illness, and whose writings I read. http://www.mcmanweb.com/about_mcman.html
I love the simplicity of these resources for Early Psychosis intervention. The site promotes early detection, educates about psychosis. https://www.psychosissucks.ca
A personal favorite of mine – the Mind & Life Institute is a non-profit organization that seeks to understand the human mind and the benefits of contemplative practices through an integrated mode of knowing that combines first person knowledge from the world’s contemplative traditions with methods and findings from contemporary scientific inquiry. I have been following them from before “google” got popular, in the days of buying video CDs. https://www.mindandlife.org
UCLA Free Guided Meditations https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/audio
FREE Digital Products on Substance abuse and mental health. I use them, what more can I say ! https://store.samhsa.gov
For anyone wanting to build the ideal website to “help” clients (helplines especially), you have to at least take a look at the above ! https://mindyourmind.ca
A very very cool website especially for psychoeducation and self-help ! https://mytoolkit.ca
National Alliance on Mental Illnesses. An American site that provides excellent comprehensive info on all mental health disorders & up-to-date research. https://www.nami.org/Home
World Association for Infant Mental Health – the only one that I know of is is a not-for-profit organization for scientific and educational professionals https://waimh.org
https://wellcomecollection.org/
A splendid site to visit if you want some original archival material. Most collections come under a CC BY 4.0 license. But more than just archival material, Wellcome is a charitable foundation established in 1936. They sponsor research on mental health, infectious diseases and climate change and have a whooping £37.8 billion portfolio as of 2023. They are known for their library, installations and work with policy makers and their advocacy. Those of you working in the areas of the cause and treatment of anxiety, depression, and psychosis might want to look into what projects they will and won’t provide funding for by visiting their Mental Health funding remit page. They also announce funding calls for which it’s worth looking at their Mental Health funding opportunities page.

The Alan Mason Chesney archives at Johns Hopkins is a repository of historical artefacts for anyone wishing to read personal correspondences, diaries, notes and papers from “the source” rather than a watered down version! One particular collection that I enjoy reading is that of Swiss psychiatrist Adolf Meyers Collection. It’s freely available.
Brief Why do I like Adolf Meyer? Anyone who has interned under August Forel at the Burgholzli Hospital is worth looking at! Meyer coined the term “psychobiology” among other great achievements. He was most likely one of the most influential yet least famous psychiatrists of the 20th century. His focus on collecting detailed case histories was one of his most prominent contributions. He was also greatly responsible for applying scientific methods to study mental illness. This archive truly does justice to him.
What can I read in book-form? His 300 page biography by S. D. Lamb published in 2014 by Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press called “Pathologist of the Mind: Adolf Meyer and the Origins of American Psychiatry”
What is his online collection about? (Taken from the Hopkins site) The Adolf Meyer Collection spans his entire career. Series include personal and professional correspondence, family correspondence, copy books, biographical material, published and unpublished articles, photographs, diplomas, licenses, and honorary degrees. Much of the professional correspondence is with prominent individuals in early twentieth-century psychiatry. Scientific notes and records pertain to Meyer’s research and teaching, and are categorized according to his place of residence: Chicago (1892-1893), Kankakee (1893-1895), Worcester (1895-1902), New York (1902-1909), and Baltimore (1910-1941). Other materials include teaching manuals, patient records, and institutional records, the majority of these dating from his years as Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. The professional materials are complemented by a rich family correspondence that begins in his youth as well as by diaries and other biographical items. Many documents are in German. The collection is among the largest of its kind in the United States and constitutes a major resource for the study of twentieth-century American psychiatry and related fields.

Brief OMGYes is a website that’s trying to close the orgasm gap (Men > Women). It’s for “everyone who cares about women’s sexual pleasure and wants to make it even better.”If you want information that’s backed by scientific studies, surveys and in-depth interviews conducted by researchers (from Indiana University and the Kinsey Institute) on over 2000+ women’s experiences with touching, pleasure, and orgasms – this is it! It dispels “the Hollywood (Bollywood) myth” and depictions in media about love-making (mind blowing orgasms, under a minute, Every. Single. Time) with a lover who telepathically knows all the moves. I would go so far as to categorise it as an educational resource and would hope Coursera or Udemy offers it as an option.
My trial went like this OMGYes is not an application, but you have to buy a one-time permanent access subscription to 3 seasons that consisted of (1) The Essentials (2) Inner pleasure (3) Techniques with toys. The site is an education that compensates for what schools and readings do not teach. It was a divine revelation in so many ways – to see other women share their intimate experiences and demonstrate techniques that worked for them. Two decades of seeing people in therapy who have shared with me their most intimate personal & interpersonal expectations that are often unrealistic, unattainable and certainly unsustainable- both in terms of body/beauty standards but also in terms of expectations from relationships, has proven first-hand how Ideas about lovemaking and coupling are so “out there” and how the need of the hour is a well-designed module that is accessible to all. The videos on OMGYes are comprehensive and particularized and contain almost encyclopaedic intelligence on female orgasms. The videos give you detailed instructions with the “how” and “where” of things alongside charts, graphs, quotes and play animations. Actual volunteers demonstrate to you what are the most common challenges when practising different techniques. The videos are not just for women – they are for couples and can help men navigate a landscape (usually unfamiliar) through guided experimentation. OMGYes has recently added experiments with fabrics, water, temperature (chilling) and pressure to enhance lovemaking. No personal information and no spam or advertisements are sent when you buy access to OMGYes videos. I truly appreciated this.
Tech Specs
Where
Web-based, iphone
(5 or later) & android
(4.2 or later)
By whom
For Goodness Sake LLC
Language
English (Spoken) , German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch, Japanese, simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese (Sub-titled)
Costs
INR 1000 for one season or 1600 for two (Season 1 + 2). There are gifting options as well (which I have used aplenty).
My concerns There is not much of an Indian/Asian representation on the site. The site is presently only for women and men. Tips/ research is centred around vulva/vaginal touch, and while the researchers recognise that not all women have vulvas and not all vulvas belong to women , they have only recently started research with all genders.
The Centre for suicide prevention is an education centre based in Calgary (Canada) that has been running for 40 years and has extensive online and in print English-language free resources for all. They currently have the largest library of over 45,000 suicide specific terms. If you visit their workshops page you will find options to attend (paid) workshops for clinical interventions, webinars for prevention with clear learning objectives and certifications. An option for postvention i.e. activities which reduce the risk and promote healing after a suicide death. In the resources section of the website, you will find infographics and in-depth articles. There are videos in the multimedia section and there is an events section to raise awareness. Trainers and mentors have a special portal dedicated to resources for them. Finally, there is a very well-organised crisis service page where you can access regional support with a search feature. This page has a toll-free number for calling and texting. Given that it is Canadian, there is an option to choose between English and French – something that will pose an added level of complexity for a country as diverse as India. Whereas this specific website has workshops for indigenous populations and children, in India I wish we could be do the same for other at risk or marginalized populations.

India reports the highest number of suicide deaths in the world and has seen a 10% increase from 2019 to the pandemic year 2020. Having reviewed many websites that offer resources for suicide prevention, this one is by far my favourite (as of 2022). Although we have a long way to go to develop a good National suicide prevention plan (it’s in the pipeline), it’s worth noting that In India hanging is the most common method of suicide, followed by pesticides poisoning, medicine overdose, and self-immolation. Indian Strategies to prevent suicide need to be provided on a website that addresses different stakeholders. There also needs to be resources for younger Indians who fail exams, suffer rejection of love or heartbreak, abuse, depression, addictions and loneliness. Hopefully, NIMHANS or TISS could take up the opportunity given the treatment gap by similarly conducting paid programs online since many people have access to phones, distribute their manuals across the country and gather data for it’s use in return!

Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz have spent a lifetime researching, publishing and bringing forth ground-breaking scientific advances to the field of dyslexia. They are directors of “The Yale Centre for Dyslexia and Creativity.” On their website you will find resources for dyslexic kids and adults – with inspiring, real-life examples that are not “exceptions to the rule.” There are resources for parents with tips for helping your child and also for preparing school strategies. A third link is available for educators way you learn about classroom strategies for language, math and emotional support. It also offers tech support advice. There is an option to buy their extremely engaging 53-minute movie “The big picture : rethinking dyslexia” here, here or on Amazon in order to deepen understanding of the problem for friends, family and schools. The website also offers you FAQ’s on early clues and signs of dyslexia and encourages the use of the word “dyslexia” if you have been diagnosed. Just using the word can bring a sense of comfort, confidence and identity. The examples of people who call themselves dyslexic can be found here. The website also offers extensive research outcomes that can be freely read by you. There is a link to resources for tools and technology and also a toolkit for parents, educators and students that includes (1) talking about dyslexia guide (2) social media awareness campaign (3) what you can do as parents, educators or dyslexic individuals to raise awareness about dyslexia. A favourite of mine that I adopted from the site is the use of Graphic Novels very early on. This is proven to help my son greatly, and today at 10 years old he is one of the most voracious readers of graphic and paperback novels. This is what they call “bridging the gap.” This particular website helped me gain insight early on, and I highly recommend it as a starting point.

www.dana.org
This website is 100% free. It will provide you with solid information on the brain including brain basics, the latest news on neuro developments, and cutting-edge research on emerging ideas in brain science in their FREE e-magazine called cerebrum. They have a section on notable brain science findings, neuroethics (my favourite section), another section called “Briefly noted” within the magazine, which has brilliant infographics by the numbers, links to brain related articles and a bookshelf with new and trending brain science related book reviews. There is a section on “Shared science” with videos, podcasts, resources for educators and downloadable publications and handouts. These handouts are categorised into populations such as different grades in schools, general public, senior citizens and university students. While they don’t yet have Indian languages, the handouts are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish. The foundation is a Private philanthropic one and has major grants. It was established in 1950 in New York City. They also have major funding to help new career investigators test novel hypothesis and develop pilot data. The grant program includes research on brain-body interaction, clinical neuroscience, first-in-man studies of brain therapies. They are heavily into public awareness and advocacy.